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1. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Poem by Robert Frost
Prepared by Divya Sheta
MA PART 2 SEM-3
Department of English, MK Bhavnagar University Celebrating
Teachers Day 2022

2. About the Poet, Robert Frost(1874-1963)
Robert Frost is a celebrated American poet.
He had a great mastery of American
colloquial speech and made realistic
depictions of the early rural life. His great
work in poetry mostly included settings from
the rural life in New England in early 20th
century. He used poems to examine complex
philosophical and social themes. During his
life, individuals honored and at many times
quoted him due to his work and he received
four Pulitzer prizes.

3. His accomplishment in Poetry
His first two collections publications happened
while he was in England. One of the first
collections 'A Boy's Will' published in the year
1915 shows a sign of the many themes and
techniques that Frost developed further. Most of
the poems in the collection employ an archaic,
Victorian fashion. In this collection, he never
applies the conversational style which he highly
uses in his later works. Most poetry reviewers
including Ezra Pound reviewed the work
positively.

4. His accomplishment in Poetry
His second collection, 'North Boston'
cemented his reputation in both
America and England as a poet with
significant talent. The well-known
modernist poet Ezra Pound (1885–
1972) praised Robert Frost's "artistic
vigor" and the tone of honesty and
irony in the poems, whose pervasive
humor contains a touch of the sinister.

5. His accomplishment in Poetry
His poem, The Road Not Taken, published in the year
1961 'Mountain Interval Collection' became one of the
anthologized and popular works in the Americas literature
although critics complain that people misunderstood it.
The poem is taken as a celebration of individuality when
its most likely interpretation is regretful work.

6. His accomplishment in Poetry
'New Hampshire' published in the year 1924
confirmed Frosts as one of the significant poetic
voices of the 20th century. He won a Pulitzer
Prize for the collection. The collection contains
his most popular poem, Stopping by Woods on a
Snowy Evening. Frost claimed of having written
the poem after working for another poem for a
whole night. The poem uses imagery of a
snowbound forest and a long journey to creating
a metaphor of an individual struggling against
nature.

7. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
He gives his harness bells a shake
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
(3)
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.(4)
Whose woods these are I think I know.
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake. (1)
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.(2)

8. Rhyme Scheme: AABA BCBB CDCC DDDD
Know-though,queer-near-year,lack-
shack,mistack,flack,deep-keep-sleep
Meter: iambic tetrameter.

9. Explanation:
● The speaker thinks about who owns the woods that he or she is
passing through, and is fairly sure of knowing the landowner.
However, the owner's home is far away in the village, and thus he is
physically incapable of seeing the speaker pause to watch the
snowfall in the forest.
● The speaker thinks his or her horse must find it strange to stop so far
from any signs of civilization. Indeed, they are surrounded only by
the forest and a frozen lake, on the longest night of the year.

10. Explanation:
● The horse shakes the bells on its harness, as if asking if the speaker
has made a mistake by stopping. The only other sound besides the
ringing of these bells is that of the wind and falling snowflakes,
which the speaker likens to the feathers of goose down.
● The speaker finds the woods very alluring, drawn both to their
darkness and how vast and all-encompassing they seem. However,
the speaker has obligations to fulfill elsewhere. Thus, though he or
she would like to stay and rest, the speaker knows there are many
more miles to go before that will be possible.

11. Themes:
● Nature vs. Society
● Social Obligation vs. Personal Desire
● Hesitation and Choice
● The journey of life and the distractions
Symbols: Wood,Sleep

12. Interpretations:
● The speaker of "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy
Evening" is anonymous and does not have a specified
gender. He or she seems to be some sort of traveler or
businessperson passing through the woods en route to
uphold certain "promises" he or she has made.
● He or she may be trespassing.

13. Interpretations:
● The Speaker also seems to find some freedom in the
woods, aware that the landowner cannot actually "see"
them stopping there.
● The Speaker seems torn between his or her obligations
to others and an individual wish to stay and rest among
nature.

14. Interpretations:
● Some interpretations of this poem suggest that the
horse is actually the narrator, or at least, is in the same
mindset as the narrator, echoing his thoughts.

15. Literary Context:
Frost's work was also very attuned to traditional and classical poetry, and
in this way resisted the explosion of free verse that would come to
dominate modernist poetry. "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"
is written in Rubaiyat form, made famous in the English-speaking world
by Edward FitzGerald's translation of the 12th-century Persian poet
Omar Khayyam. The poem also nods towards Dante's use of terza rima,
another form of interlocking chain rhyme.

16. Historical Context
The Poem was written just several years after the conclusion of World
War I, which had forced Frost to move from England, where he briefly
lived, back to the United States. Though his poetry never overtly dealt
with the war, the devastating conflict cast a huge shadow over much of
modern literature and art at the time. Poets found themselves grappling
with the place of the individual in a world that perhaps lacked meaning
or God. Such questions can be seen indirectly in "Stopping by Woods on
a Snowy Evening," whether it is the speaker's meditation on solitude or
the more foreboding and ominous symbol of despair that may be
suggested in the powerful draw of the woods.

17. Works Cited
Frost, Robert. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening Poem Summary and Analysis.” LitCharts,
https://www.litcharts.com/poetry/robert-frost/stopping-by-woods-on-a-snowy-evening. Accessed 3
September 2022.
Frost, Robert, and Henry Holt. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert….” Poetry
Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42891/stopping-by-woods-on-a-snowy-evening.
Accessed 2 September 2022.
Khurana, Simran. “Frost's Famous Poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening."” ThoughtCo, 27
February 2019, https://www.thoughtco.com/robert-frost-famous-quotes-2831452. Accessed 3
September 2022.
“North of Boston.” Encyclopedia.com, https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/culture-
magazines/north-boston. Accessed 3 September 2022.
“Robert Frost biography.” Robert Frost, https://www.robertfrost.org/biography.jsp. Accessed 3
September 2022.